Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability

Published by Penn State University Press 2020

Uncanny Bodies

Superhero Comics and Disability

Edited by: Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz

Volume 18 in the series Graphic Medicine

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271086323

Overview
Contents

About this book

Superhero comics reckon with issues of corporeal control. And while they commonly deal in characters of exceptional or superhuman ability, they have also shown an increasing attention and sensitivity to diverse forms of disability, both physical and cognitive. The essays in this collection reveal how the superhero genre, in fusing fantasy with realism, provides a visual forum for engaging with issues of disability and intersectional identity (race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality) and helps to imagine different ways of being in the world.

Working from the premise that the theoretical mode of the uncanny, with its interest in what is simultaneously known and unknown, ordinary and extraordinary, opens new ways to think about categories and markers of identity, Uncanny Bodies explores how continuums of ability in superhero comics can reflect, resist, or reevaluate broader cultural conceptions about disability. The chapters focus on lesser-known characters—such as Echo, Omega the Unknown, and the Silver Scorpion—as well as the famous Barbara Gordon and the protagonist of the acclaimed series Hawkeye, whose superheroic uncanniness provides a counterpoint to constructs of normalcy. Several essays explore how superhero comics can provide a vocabulary and discourse for conceptualizing disability more broadly. Thoughtful and challenging, this eye-opening examination of superhero comics breaks new ground in disability studies and scholarship in popular culture.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Sarah Bowden, Charlie Christie, Sarah Gibbons, Andrew Godfrey-Meers, Marit Hanson, Charles Hatfield, Naja Later, Lauren O’Connor, Daniel J. O'Rourke, Daniel Pinti, Lauranne Poharec, and Deleasa Randall-Griffiths.

Author / Editor information

Smith Scott T. :

Scott T. Smith is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Penn State University.

Reviews

“Historically, the mad villain and the supercrip have embodied comics' problematic relationship to disability. However, Smith, Alaniz, and their contributors use an intersectional lens to capture the diverse range of superhero comics that move beyond these stereotypes. Through discussions of chronic, temporary, and fluid visible and invisible disabilities in such comics as Birds of Prey, Hawkeye, and El Deafo, the volume expands our understanding of the superhero figure and pushes the limits of disability studies.”
—Leah Misemer, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Published as part of the "Graphic Medicine" series from Penn State University Press, Uncanny Bodies is a significant and essential contribution to comics studies as well as to the expanding body of research on and interrogation of the depiction of disability in society and culture.”
—J. G. Matthews, Choice

“A remarkably significant contribution to both disability studies and comics studies. The essays collected here interrogate how superhero comics have struggled with reconciling the fantasy of the superbody with a growing concern, among producers and readers, for a more diverse and more adequate treatment of disabilities ranging from autism and dissociative identity disorder to deafness and progressive muscular dystrophy. A truly eye-opening book!”
—Daniel Stein, University of Siegen

“What is particularly laudable about Uncanny Bodies is that it remains nuanced and specific throughout. Reflections complicating the motif of empowerment are present just as are descriptions of truly empowering moments and projects. As such, the volume is an important contribution to the discourse on dis/ability—and its links to the depiction of bodies in recent visual popular culture.”
—Lukas Etter, co-editor of Reader Superhelden

“Uncanny Bodies offers nuanced interrogations of how dis/ability is presented within superhero narratives. The strength of the volume lies in the wide range of topics treated and in the diverse methodological approaches chosen, from posthumanist considerations to queer theory. A constant is an unwavering commitment to taking seriously the multifaceted and intersectional nature of the issue(s) at hand. As such, Uncanny Bodies will be a point of reference for further scholarship in the field.”
—Joanna Nowotny, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: Uncanny Bodies José Alaniz and Scott T. Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 “Mechanical Boys” Omega the Unknown on the Spectrum José Alaniz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
2. Sane Superheroes Mental Distress in the Gutters of Moon Knight Charlie Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
3. Echo. The Silence Between the Notes Sarah Bowden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
4 Mistress of Cyberspace. Oracle, Disability, and the Cyborg Marit Hanson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
5 More than a Retcon Replacement. Disability, Blackness, and Sexuality in the Origin of Operator Lauren O’Connor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
6. “Okay . . . This Looks Bad” Disability, Masculinity, and Ambivalence in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye Daniel Pinti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
7. The deaf Issue Hawkeye #19 and Deaf Accessibility in the Comics Medium Naja Later Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
8. That Hawkguy Deaf and Disability Gain in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye Sarah Gibbons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
9. Dialectical Identity Silver Scorpion as Disabled/Superhero Deleasa Randall-Griffiths and Daniel J. O’Rourke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
10. “Of Course, I Am a Hero” Disability as Posthuman Ideal in Cece Bell’s El Deafo Lauranne Poharec Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
11 Unraveling the Supercrip: Superheroes as Subversion, a Personal Essay in Comic Form Andrew Godfrey-Meers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Fearsome Possibilities: An Afterword Charles Hatfield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 248
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 36
- Images: 36
- Other: 36 illustrations
Keywords: disability studies; graphic novels; comic books; comic strips; comic books—history and criticism; superheroes; popular culture; disability in literature

eBook

Published: December 10, 2019
ISBN: 9780271086323